The Best Hearty Salads to Revamp Your Lunch

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Listen, we get it: the lunch struggle is real. You need something filling to keep you nourished as the day goes on, but light enough to keep you alert and far away from food-coma territory (especially if you're eating in front of a computer screen at work). That's why salad is the undisputed midday champion for so many of us—but you needn't fear lifeless lettuce bathed in humdrum dressings. We called on the culinary compatriots behind JBF Award winner Food52'snew cookbook, Mighty Salads, to compile a collection of verdant victuals that prove iceberg lettuce is only the tip of the, well, iceberg.

You’ve probably had a salad with these flavors before—likely kale, with croutons and Parmesan as sporadic garnishes. Change the coarseness of the bread, throw in a bunch more Parmesan, and swap kale for silkier Swiss chard ribbons, and you have a salad with textures and flavors that keep your attention. Toasted almonds and torn bresaola make it a hearty meal.

Sweet roasted carrots, raw and roasted radicchio, crunchy pistachios, and a tart fig dressing ensure that you could stab recklessly into this thing, blindfolded, and still get a perfect bite. How many other salads would you want to eat with your eyes closed?

Make this earthy farro salad studded with beets, candied pecans, feta, and an herb dressing at the beginning of the week, and then pack it for lunch every day—it'll only get better as the week goes on. To pack even more of a power-punch, add a spice-fried egg.